Theegala Wins the Waves Challenge by 16 Shots

January 31, 2018 | by

Sahith Theegala won by 16 at Saticoy CC (Pepperdine photo)

Sahith Theegala of Pepperdine shot 11 under in a tournament where the average score was over 79

SOMIS, CA (January 30, 2018) – Sahith Theegala posted the most dominant individual victory in Pepperdine history, while the men’s golf team cruised to a record-setting 37-stroke victory in its own Waves Challenge on Tuesday.

Theegala shot 11-under and crushed the field with a school-record 16-shot margin of victory, which led to his second college win. The Waves finished with a two-day total of a 13-over 877 (297-297-283) at the par-72 Saticoy Country Club, far ahead of second-place UC Santa Barbara (914).

This was Pepperdine’s first team victory of the season and the first since last spring’s Southwestern Invitational. The Waves’ previous record for margin of victory was 33 strokes at the 2002 West Coast Conference Championships (head coach Michael Beard was a member of that team).

Monday was played under hot and extremely windy conditions. Tuesday was much calmer as teams finished the second round and played the third round. After average scores of 81.6 and 80.3 in the first two rounds, the average third-round score was 76.8.

Junior Sahith Theegala (Chino Hills, Calif./Diamond Bar HS) went under-par all three rounds, shooting an 11-under 205 (70-68-67). Theegala averaged 68.3 shots per round – more than 11 shots better than the tournament average.
The previous Pepperdine individual record for margin of victory was nine shots by Dean Kobane at the 1989 WCC Championships.
Perhaps the most incredible stat was that over the course of three rounds where bogeys, double-bogeys and worse were the norm, Theegala had a combined total of just three bogeys.
Theegala led all players with 12 birdies and 38 pars. He was the tournament’s top performer on par-4s (-2) and par-5s (-8) and shared top honors on par-3s (-1).
His score of 11-under was a career-best and ties him for 10th on the Waves’ all-time tournament list.
Theegala, the 2017 WCC Player of the Year and an All-American, had previously won the 2017 Southwestern Invitational.

Results: Waves Challenge

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Sahith Theegala	Chino Hills, CA	400	70-68-67=205
2	Joshua McCarthy	Danville, CA	300	73-79-69=221
3	Brian Humphreys	Washougal, WA	200	78-72-72=222
T4	Felix Mory	, France	200	75-78-70=223
T4	Brandon Bauman	Las Vegas, NV	200	78-73-72=223